ilinda

Stranded is a 3/4 of an hour special by Les Stroud. He puts himself out in the (Canadian) wilderness all alone and without much in the way of tools [except a Swiss Army Knife].

It illustrates the less-than-romantic sides of survival, like:- bugs [mosquitos destroying sleep]- lack of edible flora and fauna- how hard it can be to light a fireEtc.

Is it realistic? Watching this, i wonder how many non-survival experts could put in 10 HOURS [!] lighting a fire...? Should you? Of course; WOULD you? Doubtful...This is just 7 days out in the boonies, and with warm (though damp) weather; ya hafta get to thinking: Would this is possible AT ALL if it were in winter (or if there were no light and warmth)?Still, a realistic take on the matter, i think. At least Les Stroud doesn't go off with camera crews and what have you.

Probably not many (maybe none) non-survival experts could put in 10 hours lighting a fire. It is certainly food for thought. I have wanted to try--for one day--to see if I can light a fire using either a bow-drill or just the more primitive fire stick. There is a website that I saw a few years ago which had a really cool chart--more of a grid, sort of like a spreadsheet.

On this grid along the top row were listed various types of woods/fibers, and along the left column were mostly the same woods/fibers. You could look in the "cell" where each horizontal and vertical met to see the rating of that combination. For instance, one group was the firestick, and the other group constituted the "board" in which the firestick rotated. IIRC, the ratings were numbered 1-5, indicating the easiest to most difficult in starting fires. If I can find that chart, will post it here.

IIRC, Larry Kinsella, a sort of expert in these things, told us at a gathering that he thinks "cattail on yucca" makes the best combination. IOW, by using cattail as the stick, and yucca as the board, he felt one could get the best fire.

Over the years I have collected both for the great experiment, but never seem to get around to doing it, and then the cattail and yucca get lost, etc. It's really time now. I watched Larry Kinsella start a fire in about 30 seconds this way. It was an amazing sight to see how quickly his arms and hands twirled that piece of wiood around so precisely in the indentation of the "fireboard".

I've forced myself to listen to numerous long-winded Youtube videos with titles that promised to provide nitty-gritty survival details. Often narrated by the Big Names in the Px investigation world, and often in the form of a dialog between two or more people, these videos have frequently disappointed, being full of talking-head style chit-chat with maybe only a few sentences' worth of prepping information that is generally vague.

I've forced myself to listen to numerous long-winded Youtube videos with titles that promised to provide nitty-gritty survival details. Often narrated by the Big Names in the Px investigation world, and often in the form of a dialog between two or more people, these videos have frequently disappointed, being full of talking-head style chit-chat with maybe only a few sentences' worth of prepping information that is generally vague.

OMG... Yeah, this is the kind of info that means the difference between life and death.Even a limited catastrophe [like that created by a galactic superwave (and ensuing CME and ensuing grid failure) will cost the lives of billions [!], especially in so-called industrial nations. Think of how most Americans survived the 1929 collapse by falling back on family members with farms, while 2% of folks are nowadays involved in farming...

We're talking total anarchy [with 'authorities' unable to communicate because their systems fail] and gangs of thugs roaming the streets in search of basic necessities. (The recent disaster on the island of Saint Martin [due to Irma] illustrates this point; who went out roaming and pillaging? It was young immigrants...)

Stock up and prepare to remain inside for months on end...(or arm yourselves, organize yourselves and prepare for battle).

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